National and Global Wealth Inequality In modern society, the wealth distribution is centered around very few, while the rest get very few. The difference between rich and the poor, in both the United States and the Global community, is vast. The rich gain a great percentage of the world’s wealth, while the poor gain next to nothing. Pro-capitalist sociologists argue that the present modern economy is positive and helps both national and global societies. Through a structural-functional approach that sees society promoting stability, sociologists express that the competitive market gives people more ambition and a personal drive. They believe in the modernization theory that advocates that a cultures openness to pursue change and to accept new technology will have a positive effect on global poverty. On the other hand, other sociologists believe that the inequalities in the wealth received in the United States and the rest of the world leads to an exploitation of the poor, which makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. This social-conflict approach supports the dependency theory, which states that high-income countries and individuals are dependent on taking advantage of low-income countries and the poor. The structural-functional approach and social-conflict approach to poverty and wealth distribution are discussed in both the United States’ economy and the global economy in similar ways. In the United States, the wealth distribution is great. In addition to gaining just over forty-seven percent of the income in the country, the richest twenty percent of America possess around eighty four percent of the wealth. Although the average income of each household has increased over the past few decades, sociologist Andrew Hacker points out that sixty percent of that increase fell into the hands of the top five percent of

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society. The rich are getting even richer, while the poor remain poor. In fact, the poorest twenty percent are actually in debt. Poverty, which the U.S. government claims to be almost thirteen percent of Americans, can be blamed on either society or the poor. In a study, anthropologist Oscar Lewis noticed that children raised in poverty will accept their way life, instead of trying to change their social status. William Julius Joseph, however, counter this point and blames poverty on the lack of jobs. In 2004, Fifty-two percent of a

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